223 Year of the Horse

Cheesy and Fondue celebrate the Year of the Horse. We talk Chinese New Year. We find out if you can milk a horse, make cheese from said milk and if horses can eat cheese. And of course, we tell a very cheesy joke!

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Why is cheddar the most dangerous of all the cheeses? Because it is very sharp!

Show Notes

https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caciocavallo

https://www.cheese.com/caciocavallo/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_milk

https://charlottecooktravel.substack.com/p/drinking-fermented-horse-milk-in

https://culturecheesemag.com/blog/a-cheesemakers-horseback-journey-through-mongolia/

https://www.thesleepycheese.com/home/2018/9/21/kz

https://www.cheese.com/blog/can-horses-eat-cheese/

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Just Cheesy the podcastpresented by Just Cheesy Productions.
Hi there. I'm your host, Fondue.
I'm Cheesy.
In this week's episode, we'retalking all about Chinese New Year.
Yay. We're gonna find out ifyou can milk a horse. We're gonna
find out if you can makecheese from said milk. And we're

(00:23):
gonna find out if horses caneat cheese.
Can they?
And of course, we're gonnatell a very cheesy joke.
Oh, yeah.
Joke. Stay tuned for episodetwo, Year of the Horse, on Just Cheesy
the podcast. The Chinese LunarNew year falls on February 17 to
March 6 and 2026 is known asthe Year of the Fire Horse. According

(00:46):
to the Smithsonian Institute,the Chinese zodiac rotates through
a 12 year cycle of animals andthe traditional five elements. Wood,
fire, earth, metal, and water.And according to chinahighlights.com
if you are a horse, you. Youare animated, active and energetic.
Go, horse.
And of course, the Year of theHorse made us think about cheese.
Because on this podcast,everything makes us think about cheese,

(01:09):
Right? And of course, there'san Italian cheese called Cacio Cavallo,
which literally means horse cheese.
Whoa.
The name literally means horsecheese because cacio equals cheese
and cavallo means onhorseback. Wow. But it is not made
from horse milk. It's not.Instead, it refers to how the cheese
was traditionally aged. Twocheeses were tied together with a

(01:29):
rope, hung over a stick, stickor a beam, and then they resembled
saddlebags over a horse'sback. Paggio Cavallo is a stretched
curd pasta filata cheese. It'ssimilar in style and taste to aged
provolone. A type of thischeese was first mentioned around
500 BCE by Hippocrates, and itemphasized the Greek's cleverness

(01:51):
in making cheese. The rerustica between 35 and 45 CE describe
precisely the methods used inits preparation, according to Wikipedia,
making it one of the oldestknown chees.
Holy cow.
According to cheese.com thisis made from cow's milk. It has a
smooth, pale yellow rind and afirm, elastic texture. They say it

(02:12):
can vary in flavor dependingon age, with the younger versions
having a mild and butterytaste, while the aged ones develop
a more robust and tangy flavor.
Yummy.

(03:12):
Caciocavallo is not a sponsor,but if it was, the ad would go right
here. Believe it or not,Cheesy. You can milk a horse. I can.
And this is most prevalent inmongolia. According to culturecheesemag.com
Mongolians milk. Seven speciesof animals. Yak, cow, goat, camel,

(03:33):
sheep, reindeer, and horse.And they were one of the first people
to domesticate the horse. I'mpretty sure I'm going to butcher
these names and I apologize.
I'm sure.
Kumis, or Air Rag, as it'sknown in Mongolia, is a fermented
dairy drink and it's made frommare's milk. This is not like your
2% milk.
It isn't.
Because mare's milk has a highsugar content, it ferments really,

(03:56):
really quickly, and itproduces a drink that is slightly
fizzy, sour and mildlyalcoholic. In fact, it's typically
about 2 to 3% ABV, similar toa light beer. Wow. The milk is traditionally
fermented in leather or woodenvessels and it's repeatedly stirred.
This is a method rooted innomadic horse culture.
Really?
The Author of thesleepycheese.com talks a little bit

(04:20):
about the taste of fermentedhorse milk. Oh, boy. His description
is pretty, pretty vivid anddoesn't make it sound very good to
a Western palate. He firstwent on to describe it as sweet and
malty, like someone shaved aferret and blended the fur with sour
yogurt to make a milkshake.What? He then went on to say that
it was like someone wore apair of socks for a month in a tropical

(04:41):
environment and used the socksto filter spoiled horse smell. Ew.
But this isn't really fair.This is a very nutritious drink.
Yeah.
And according tocharlottecooktravel.substack.com fermentation
was done for a number ofreasons, mainly for preservative
properties. See, the area thatthis would have been made gets up
to 50 degrees Celsius in thesummer. What's that in Fahrenheit,

(05:02):
which is 122 degrees Fahrenheit.
Holy cow.
And obviously, at thattemperature, milk would spoil pretty
quickly.
Obviously.
The mayor's milk is incrediblyhigh in lactose.
Really?
And they say so much. So itcan be used as a purging laxative.
So the process of fermentationreduces the lactose into more digestible
sugars which humans cantolerate. And apparently kumi therapy

(05:25):
still exists as an alternativemedicine today.
Really?
And it promised to balanceyour gut biome and provide all manner
of health benefits. Accordingto the website, this is still used
as a cure all.
Really?
It helps with things likeupset stomach or colds and has even
been used to help withtuberculosis. The big question is,
can you use horse's milk for cheese?

(05:47):
Can you?
The answer is kind of True,hard cheeses from mare's milk are
very rare because horse'smilk's composition doesn't curdle
easily like cow or sheep milk.Some nomadic cultures take that horse
milk and make it intosomething called a roule. This cheese
is created by boiling,curdling, pressing, and sun drying
the milk. It sounds verysimilar to yak cheese. It's very,

(06:10):
very hard, so it's not easy toeat. Like you would eat a soft cheese
or a cheddar. You would haveto actually chew on it for a while
for it to soften up, and thenyou'd be able to eat it. Yak cheese
is commonly used as dog treatsand it helps to clean their teeth
and freshen breath. And ofcourse, that got us wondering, can
horses eat cheese? No. Theanswer is no, not really. Horses

(06:34):
are lactose intolerant.Because of this cheese ice cream,
yogurt, milk, and otherproducts should be avoided. Really?
And according to cheese.com,even the smallest amount of lactose
intake can cause seriousdamage to horses. It can lead to
severe gastrointestinal issueslike colic.
Oh, no.
It can lead to digestiveissues like diarrhea, gas, and abdominal

(06:55):
pain because horses lack theenzymes necessary to break down lact.
So it obviously leads todiscomfort. Aww. So in this Year
of the Horse, let's try tostick with safe treats like apples
and carrots.
I'm ready for a joke fondue.
Okay. Why does horse cheesestand out?
I don't know. Why?
Because it has "mane" characte energy. Get it? "Mane"

(07:18):
character
Yeah, like a horse's mane. Itwas silly.
I know it was silly, but Ithought it was a little bit cheesy.
Thanks for listening toepisode 223, Year of the Horse. Thank
you. We have a link in ourshow notes where you can go and put
in your birthday to find outwhich Chinese zodiac sign you fall

(07:38):
under.
Have a happy Chinese New Year
and stay cheesy, everybody.